until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco was quickest at the end of Friday MotoGP practice ahead of the Catalan Grand Prix.
Like in FP1, Petronas Yamaha man Franco Morbidelli assumed the lead early in the second session and held it for vast majority of the running, having stood as the only rider to dip below 1m40s until the final minutes.
KTM rider Brad Binder, freshly contracted through 2024, finally surpassed Morbidelli’s time with the use of a new soft rear tyre with under two minutes left on the clock, and Zarco then found an extra couple of tenths to go two tenths clear of the South African.
Morbidelli responded to go top moments before the chequered flag, but Zarco, running in points leader Fabio Quartararo’s tow, pipped Morbidelli by 0.021s with his last-gasp attempt to end the day in first place.
Quartararo completed the top three behind the pair, with Binder ending up over a quarter of a second down in fourth.
Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller backed up an improved Ducati showing in fifth and seventh respectively, split by Quartararo’s factory Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales.
Rookie Enea Bastianini made it four Ducatis in the top eight, while the Espargaro brothers – Aleix for Aprilia ahead of Pol for Honda – completed the top 10.
Both Pol Espargaro and his team-mate Marc Marquez spent most of the session in the top five, but Espargaro’s late-session soft-tyre run didn’t live up to that initial promise, and Marquez didn’t bother with one, ending up 15th.
That was still one place ahead of reigning champion Joan Mir, who is the sole Suzuki completing this weekend following Alex Rins’ bicycle accident.
There was an early crash in FP2 for Sky VR46 rookie Luca Marini, who tipped off at very low speed in the gravel after going straight on at Turn 4.
